Ex-Reggae Boy Joins Trio Of Jamaica Compatriots At Austin Bold FC

Demar Phillips, who played 72 games for Jamaica, has moved to USL Championship side Austin Bold FC on a two season deal.

The St Thomas-born left wing-back, released by Real Salt Lake at the end of the 2018 season, has been training with the Texas-based club since the start of the year.

The 35-year-old joins new team-mates and compatriots Sean McFarlane, Jermaine Taylor and Ryan Thompson at the club.

Phillips was a regular with Jamaica’s Reggae Boyz, scoring a dozen goals from 2006 until 2016, and was a 2008 Caribbean Cup winner. He was also involved in a hat-trick of CONCACAF Gold Cup competitions (2009, 2012 and 2015).

Phillips kicked off his career with leading Red Stripe Jamaican National Premier League outfit Waterhouse FC. During five seasons he won the league title in 2006 before a lucrative move to Stoke City in 2007, the season they got promoted to the English Premier League.

But only two appearances for Stoke led to a move to Norwegian giants Aalesund FK, where he twice won their Cup competition and played over a hundred games – which included appearances in the UEFA Europa League from 2010-2012.

After leaving Scandinavia he signed for Real Salt Lake in 2015, but was surprisingly released following their season finale.

Yet in January 2016 the defender re-signed to tackle the next MLS season, although in 2017 was sent out on loan to USL Championship side Real Monarchs in Utah.

And having tasted USL Championship action, Phillips is biting at the bit to impress at Austin Bold FC, who were only founded two years ago.

Brazilian Marcelo Serrano is their new head coach and is also the head coach and general manager of the US Virgin Islands.

Phillips’ goal is to prove that despite his age he can still do a job at this level for another couple of seasons and as a composed defender throughout his career should impress Serrano.